People have different opinions about life, marriage, and certainly about finances too. Some people believe marriage to be a good thing while others believe it is not in any way necessary, there are so many things that cause disagreements and conflicts in marriages and money is one of the strongest reasons why that happens. There has been a lot of argument about how couples should act when it comes to money, the act is believed to either sustain/strengthen the marriage or make it go sour.
The most important thing for me is that whatever decisions must be made has to be agreed upon by both parties before they get committed, this way, there is limited argument and misunderstanding during the marriage. Even after taking about the route you will like to take, sometimes a trial and error can help you determine what works best for both parties.
Money may be a difficult topic to talk about, after all the rainbows in the stomach that you feel and you just want everything to be perfect all the time without any quarrel. But, regardless of how uncomfortable you feel talking about it, it is something you have to talk about and remember not to ever lie during that conversation. Lying about your finances to your spouse would rightly destroy trust and may even result in the end of the marriage.
If you both have agreed to combine finances, you should come plain about all your debts, assets, and everything you own. If it happens that you do not have a budget yet, this is the right time for the both of you to categorize every expense into wants, needs, and savings, with this in mind, you will have a more clear picture of your financial habits.
After the spending habit has been evaluated, you both need to talk about how to improve it and achieve financial goals. A power couple should have financial goals, either you want to combine money to achieve the goals or do it separately, having a goal will help you do better financially.
If you are keeping separate accounts, you should clarify who is paying for what in the home to avoid disagreements and quarrel. You can either split the bills equally or share based on percentage depending on what works best for you. With each person handling their own funds, you individually become responsible for your spending habits.
Managing funds together as a couple on the other hand can make things more easy, with all family expense sorted from one account, tracking becomes easier and each couple becomes responsible for each other's spending habit. There is going to be problem if both couple have different spending habits, and each of them just want to act differently.
Every marriage and couple works differently, and you do not have to necessarily compare the values of your marriage with another person, so you should choose what works best for you and by extension your partner. You should speak on how bills are going to be paid, how reimbursement will happen and how financial strategies will be attained.
Posted Using INLEO